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New York Law Prohibits Shutout of Alternative Fuels

A new law in New York will make alternative fuels such as biodiesel
and E85 (a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline) more
readily available to consumers. New York Governor George Pataki on July 31st signed a law prohibiting the "exclusivity" contracts between
fuel distributors and gas stations. These contracts limit service
stations from purchasing or selling fuels from sources other than the
main distributor. Because most major petroleum fuel distributors do
not sell E85 or other alternative fuels in New York, service stations
bound by these contracts were unable to offer renewable fuels to
customers. The fuels covered under the new law include E85, biodiesel,
hydrogen, and compressed natural gas.

The law should help remove access barriers for the owners of the
roughly 200,000 flex-fuel vehicles in New York State. Flex-fuel
vehicles can run on either E85 or gasoline, but only a few stations in
New York currently offer E85. To further improve access, the New York
State Thruway Authority will install renewable fuel pumps at its 27
Thruway travel plazas, the first of which should be operating this
fall. See the press releases from Governor Pataki on the exclusivity
law and the Thruway plaza pump groundbreaking.